Methods and systems for actively optimizing a credit score and managing/reducing debt

ABSTRACT

The invention provides various systems and methods for actively optimizing a credit score and reducing debt. The method includes receiving a credit report including credit accounts, balances, interest rates, and rate types for the credit accounts. The method further receives bank account and payroll information, as well as fixed and variable expense information. The method then generates a financial report based on the received information. Based on the financial report, the method calculates a payment amount, and determines available unassigned income. An allocation of the available income for debt reduction and credit score optimization is received, and the method dynamically allocates the funds to pay the credit accounts, the fixed expenses, and variable expenses such that the customer&#39;s debt is reduced and the customer&#39;s credit score is improved.

PRIORITY CLAIM

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.12/178,314, filed on Jul. 23, 2008, entitled METHODS AND APPARATUS FORACTIVELY OPTIMIZING A CREDIT SCORE AND MANAGING/REDUCING DEBT, which isa continuation-in-part (CIP) of U.S. patent application Ser. No.10/336,671, filed on Jan. 2, 2003, entitled METHODS AND APPARATUS FORMAPPING SOURCES AND USES OF CONSUMER FUNDS, which is a CIP of U.S.application Ser. No. 10/168,871, filed on Nov. 13, 2002, entitledMETHODS AND APPARATUS FOR MAPPING SOURCES AND USES OF CONSUMER FUNDS,which is based on International Application No. PCT/US00/33750, entitledMETHODS AND APPARATUS FOR MAPPING SOURCES AND USES OF CONSUMER FUNDS,filed Dec. 13, 2000; which claims priority from U.S. Provisional PatentApplication Ser. No. 60/173,691, filed Dec. 29, 1999, which are allincorporated by reference herein for any and all purposes.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates, in general, to finance management, andmore particularly, to managing finances in order to actively optimize acredit score and reduce debt.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Presently, in order for consumers to optimize their credit scores theymust attempt to manually determine which credit cards (and other debt)to pay down first, when to pay it down and how much to pay. In addition,even when credit cards have been paid-off, it may still be beneficial tothe customer's credit score to maintain the line of credit even after ithas been paid off. These and many other factors are involved indetermining the best approach to increasing a customer's credit score,and customers are simply not equipped to make such determinations.

Similar to increasing a credit score, managing a customer's monthlybills to reduce debt in the most effective way possible can also bedifficult. For example, in some situations it may be beneficial for acustomer to pay certain bills twice a month in order to reduce theamount of interest accrued. In addition, it may be more beneficial topay more on some bills than others. However, currently, customers mustmake such decisions and then manually make the payments, which can bedifficult, incontinent, and often impossible for a customer to do ontheir own. Accordingly, improvements in the art are needed.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides methods for actively optimizing a creditscore and reducing debt. The method includes receiving a credit reportwhich includes credit accounts, balances, interest rates, and rate typesfor the credit accounts. The method further receives bank account andpayroll information, as well as fixed and variable expense information.The method then generates a financial report based on the receivedinformation. Based on the financial report, the method calculates aminimum payment amount, and determines available unassigned income. Anallocation of the available income for debt reduction and credit scoreoptimization is received, and dynamically allocated to pay the creditaccounts, the fixed expenses, and variable expenses such that thecustomer's debt is reduced and the customer's credit score is increasedat the fastest possible rate.

The present invention provides for a system for actively optimizing acredit score and reducing debt. The system includes an interfaceconfigured to receive financial input from a customer, and a pluralityof payees configured to transmit bills for services rendered to thecustomer and to receive payment for the services. The system furtherincludes a credit institution configured to generate a credit report forthe customer. The credit report includes credit accounts, balanceinformation for the credit accounts, interest rate information for thecredit accounts, and interest types for the credit accounts. The systemalso includes a banking institution configured to receive income fundsfor the customer.

The system further includes a payment center coupled with the interface,the plurality of payees, the credit institution, and the bankinginstitution. The payment center is configured to dynamically receive thecredit report for the customer from the credit institution, to receivebank account information and payroll information from the bankinginstitution, and to receive fixed and variable expense information viathe interface. The payment center includes a fund allocation engine. Thefund allocation engine is configured to generate a financial reportbased on an aggregation of the credit report information, the bankaccount information, payroll information, fixed expense information, andthe variable expense information.

The engine is further configured to, based at least in part on thefinancial report, calculate a minimum payment amount and based at leastin part on the minimum payment amount, determine available income. Theavailable income includes unassigned income to receive an allocation ofthe available income for debt reduction and credit score optimization.Furthermore, the engine is configured to dynamically allocate theavailable income to pay one or more of the credit accounts, the fixedexpenses, and variable expenses, such that the customer's debt isreduced and the customer's credit score is increased at the fastestpossible rate.

A further embodiment of the present invention provides a machinereadable medium for actively optimizing a credit score and reducingdebt. The machine readable medium includes receiving a credit reportincluding credit accounts, balances, interest rates, and rate types forthe credit accounts. The machine readable medium further receives bankaccount and payroll information, as well as fixed and variable expenseinformation. The machine readable medium then generates a financialreport based on the received information. Based on the financial report,the machine readable medium calculates a minimum payment amount anddetermines available unassigned income. An allocation of the availableincome for debt reduction and credit score optimization is received anddynamically allocated to pay the credit accounts, the fixed expenses,and variable expenses such that the customer's debt is reduced and thecustomer's credit score is increased at the fastest possible rate.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A further understanding of the nature and advantages of the presentinvention may be realized by reference to the remaining portions of thespecification and the drawings wherein like reference numerals are usedthroughout the several drawings to refer to similar components. In someinstances, a sublabel is associated with a reference numeral to denoteone of multiple similar components. When reference is made to areference numeral without specification to an existing sublabel, it isintended to refer to all such multiple similar components.

FIG. 1A is a flow diagram illustrating a method for credit optimizationand debt reduction according to embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 1B is a flow diagram further illustrating a method for creditoptimization and debt reduction according to embodiments of the presentinvention.

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram illustrating another embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a payment network according toembodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a generalized schematic diagram illustrating a computersystem, in accordance with various embodiments of the invention.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating a networked system of computers,which can be used in accordance with various embodiments of theinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The invention provides various systems and methods for increasing acustomer's credit score and reducing debt. In one embodiment, a customermay be directed to input their current debt, monthly bills, otherexpenses, etc. Based on the inputted information, a creditoptimization/debt reduction may engine determine the most efficient wayin which the customer can increase their credit score and reduce theirdebt.

For example, a customer makes $4000.00 per month paid in $2000.00increments on the 1^(st) and the 15^(th) of each month. The customer hasa mortgage payment of $1000.00 at 6.75% due on the 1^(st) of each month,a credit card with a minimum payment of $50.00 at 9% due on the 30^(th)of each month, and an auto loan of $500.00 at 3% also due on the 30^(th)of each month. The customer has decided to allocate an additional$1000.00 to pay down existing debt.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, based on the aboveinformation, the engine would determine that the customer should pay themortgage with the first paycheck and hold an additional $500.00. Then,$250.00 of the additional $500.00 would be applied to the auto loan onthe 15^(th) and the other $250.00 is applied to the credit card on the15^(th). Subsequently, $1000.00 is held from the paycheck on the 15^(th)and another $250.00 is paid to the auto loan on the 30^(th) and anadditional $750.00 is paid on the credit card on the 30^(th). Thus, thecustomer's debt is reduced by making bi-monthly payments on both thecredit card and auto loan, and the customer's credit score is increasedby reducing outstanding debt. One skilled in the art would know thatthis is merely a simplified example and more complex calculations thatwould need to be made. Nonetheless, the end result of the engine'scalculations is a determination of the best possible way to utilize thecustomer's funds to optimize the customer's credit score and reduce debtas quickly as possible.

Turning now to FIG. 1A which illustrates a method 100 for creditoptimization and debt reduction according to embodiments of the presentinvention. Alternatively, method 100 may be used to reduce the amount ofdebt incurred each month if a customer does not earn enough to cover allof their current expenses. In a further embodiment, method 100 may beused to optimize the credit score of a customer as well as reduce thecustomer's overall debt. At process block 105, the customer's creditreport may be dynamically received from a credit reporting agency. Inone embodiment, the credit reporting agency may be any one of Experian™,Equifax™, TransUnion™, etc. The credit report may, for example, includethe customer's open and closed credit accounts, balance information forthe open credit accounts, interest rate information for the open creditaccounts, interest types for the open credit accounts, and minimumpayment amounts. The credit report may further include current and pastaddresses and other contact information for the customer, as well ascurrent and past employment information.

At process block 110, the customer's bank account information may bereceived from the customer and/or a banking institution (orinstitutions). The bank account information may include accountbalances, interest rates, account numbers, and account types. At processblock 115, the customer's payroll information may be received. In oneembodiment, the payroll information may include frequency of payment(e.g., paid every two weeks, paid on the 1^(st) and the 15^(th) of themonth, etc.), amounts of payments (e.g., an average, a salary amount,etc.), the entity originating the payment, etc.

At process block 120, the customer may choose to enter fixed and/orvariable expense information. In one embodiment, the fixed expenseinformation may include, for example, an auto loan, a mortgage,insurance, etc. The variable expenses may include, for example, anelectric bill, a phone bill, a water bill, a grocery bill, etc. It wouldbe apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that additional expensesmay be included and that some of the fixed expenses may be variable andsome of the variable expenses may be fixed depending on each individualcustomer. Furthermore, the customer may choose to input all or only someof their expenses.

In a further embodiment, the customer may be presented with a userinterface (e.g., web interface 325 from FIG. 3) to enter their expenseinformation. In one embodiment, the interface may require a login andpassword to access the interface, and the customer may then be promptedto enter various personal information (name, address, birth date, socialsecurity number, etc.), and the various expense information. Thecustomer may then be given the opportunity to login to the interface andmake adjustments to the information they have provided (e.g., changes inpersonal information, adding or removing an expense, etc.).

At process block 125, a financial report may be generated based on theaggregation of the credit report, the fixed expense and variable expenseinformation, payroll information, and the bank account information. Inone embodiment, the financial report may include a “snapshot” of thecustomer's current financial situation which would be presented in sucha way that would be easy for the customer to read and understand. Thus,the customer can review the report and determine if it is accurate andif additional information is needed in order for the report to be morecomplete.

At decision block 130, a determination is made whether the customerneeds to add additional expenses and/or payroll information. Forexample, the customer may have forgotten to enter their cellular phonebill information or the customer may have additional income sources(e.g., rental properties, interest income, etc.). If the customer hasadditional information to enter, then the addition information may beentered in, for example, the interface and added to the financial report(process block 135). Otherwise method 100 continues to point A.

FIG. 1B which further illustrates method 100 continuing from point A. Atprocess block 140, based on the received information regarding thecustomer's credit card accounts and expenses, a minimum payment amountmay be calculated. This minimum payment amount may be the lowest amountthe customer would be required to pay in order to keep all accounts ingood standing. At process block 145, based on the payroll informationand the minimum payment calculation, an available unassigned incomeamount may be determined. This available unassigned income is any excessthat the customer may have to use to pay down debt and/or apply to asavings account.

At decision block 150, the customer may choose to allocate some or allof the available unallocated income, or none of the availableunallocated income. At process block 155, if the customer decided not toallocate any of the available unallocated income to pay down debt, thenthe funds required to pay credit card minimums and expenses areallocated and the various services and/or creditors are paid.

Alternatively, if the customer decides to allocate the unallocatedavailable income, then an allocation amount may be received (processblock 160). In one embodiment, the customer's income may be $5000.00,expenses may be $3500.00, and credit card minimum payment may be$500.00. Hence, the available unallocated income would be $1000.00. Thecustomer may then, for example, choose to allocate $500.00 of the$1000.00 to use to pay down existing debt.

At process block 165, the unassigned available income designated by thecustomer may be allocated in such a way as to reduce debt and increasethe customer's credit score. The funds may be allocated to reduce debtin the fasted way possible. For example, the funds may be applied tocertain credit accounts in a bi-monthly fashion in order to reduce theamount of interest accrued. Furthermore, higher interest accounts may bepaid down while lower interest accounts may only have minimum paymentsmade. Ultimately, based on an analysis of the customer's financialreport and allocation decision of available unassigned funds, adetermination may be made as to how to reduce the customer's debt asquickly as possible.

In addition, a determination may be made as to how to increase thecustomer's credit score as quickly as possible. For example, even aftera credit account has been paid off, it may be determined that keepingthat credit account open may be the best way to increase the customer'scredit score. Alternatively, it may be determined that the customer'scredit score may be most efficiently increased by consolidating a numberof credit accounts into one single account, roll the credit accountsinto a refinanced mortgage, etc. Consequently, based on the customer'scurrent debt and/or credit situation, a dynamic determination is made toincrease the customer's credit score which is tailored to meet thecustomer's specific situation.

In one embodiment, such a determination (e.g., the customer's PLUSscore) may be calculated using information from the customer's creditreport on the day it is calculated. The PLUS score may be based onmultiple factors such as: payment history (i.e., information about theway the customer has paid their credit accounts in the past, includinglate payments, bankruptcies, etc). Credit accounts may also be a factor(e.g., the number of credit accounts that that customer has and thedifferent types of those credit accounts: credit cards, auto loans,etc.). Credit usage may be an additional factor (e.g., the amount ofcredit the customer is utilizing, the amount of credit still available,etc.). The length of credit history (e.g., the number of months thecustomer's credit accounts have been on the customer's credit report),credit applications (e.g., the number of times the customer has appliedfor credit in the recent past), and bankruptcies (e.g., the presence andage of bankruptcy records (if any) on the customer's credit report) mayeach also be factors in determining the customer's PLUS score.

One example of how such a PLUS score may be determined is as follows.Assume that bank A is offering a credit line of $20,000 @ 9.99% fixedrate if the customer's income greater than $75,000 and the customer'scredit score is greater than 700. Alternatively, bank A is offering acredit line of $30,000 @ 8.99% fixed rate if the customer's income isgreater than $85,000 and the customer's credit score is greater than700. Also assume that the customer has an income of $90,000 and a creditscore of 734. Further, assume that the customer's revolving accounts aregreater than 2, the customer's total balance is less than $30,000, andthat average weighted annual percentage rate (APR) is greater than8.99%. Accordingly, it is best for the customer to consolidate revolvingaccounts 1, 2, and 3 into new maximum credit line of $30,000, and closethe existing revolving accounts 1, 2, and 3. This algorithm is merely anexample and much more complex algorithms may be used. Such algorithmsmay have many additional variables and potential outcomes to considerwhen providing the solution.

A method 200 for credit optimization and debt reduction is illustratedin FIG. 2. At process block 205, the customer's income funds may bereceived by a payment center (e.g., payment center 305 in FIG. 3). Inone embodiment, these funds may be received via wire transfer,electronic funds transfer (EFT), etc. A determination may then be madeas to the amounts needed to be allocated to the customer's expensesand/or creditors (process block 210).

At process block 215, the determined amount of funds may be held by thepayment center. Subsequently, an analysis of the customer's currentcredit account rates may be preformed (process block 220). Specifically,determine the interest rates for the customer's current credit accountsand the type of interest (e.g., simple interest, compound interest,etc.) of the accounts. At decision block 225, a determination is madewhether a partner of the payment center may be able to offer thecustomer a credit account with a better interest rate than thecustomer's current credit accounts.

In one embodiment, for example, a partner may be a credit card company,a mortgage company, an auto loan company, etc. In an alternativeembodiment, the partner may not be in the credit business, but may be autility company (e.g., cellular phone provider, home phone provider)with a plan that is less expensive than the customer's current utilityplan. Nonetheless, the payment center, based on the partner's offers andthe customer's current financial situation, may choose appropriateoffers from the partners to present to the customer.

If it is determined that one or more partners have an offer with abetter rate than the customer's current accounts, then the offer may bepresented to the customer (process block 230). At process block 235, thecustomer may accept the partner's offer. As such, the customer may berequired to fill out an application or other paperwork in order toreceive the offer. Alternatively, the offer may be a pre-approved offerand the payment center and the partner may have an agreement whichallows the customer to be automatically enrolled in the partner's plan.

At process block 240, based on the new credit and expense information,the funds held by the payment center may be remitted to pay the variouscreditors and/or expenses. Accordingly, the offers submitted to thecustomer from the partners will facilitate the payment center inreducing the customer's overall debt, as well as increasing thecustomer's credit score.

Turning now to FIG. 3, which illustrates a system 300 for creditoptimization and debt reduction. In one embodiment, system 300 mayinclude a payment center 305 which may include a fund allocation engine310. System 300 may further include an interactive voice recognition(IVR) system 315, a branch office location 320, a web interface 325, anda mobile device 330 each coupled with payment center 305. In oneembodiment, a customer may access payment center 305 via any one of IVRsystem 315, branch office location 320, web interface 325, and mobiledevice 330.

In one embodiment, the customer may be prompted to login to paymentcenter 305 and input various personal and/or financial information. Suchinformation may include name, address, phone number, birth date, socialsecurity number, banking account information, payroll information, etc.The customer may further input fixed and/or variable expense informationwhich may be paid to, for example, payee 335, payee 340, or payee 345.Payment center 305 may receive such information and store it in anaccount for the customer.

In a further embodiment, system 300 may include a banking institution350 (i.e., the corresponding bank based on the banking accountinformation provided by the customer). In one embodiment, payment center305 may request funds, account balance information, and other financialinformation from banking institution 350. Furthermore, system 300 mayinclude a credit institution 355 (e.g., Experian™, Equifax™,TransUnion™, etc.) coupled with payment center 305. Payment center 305may request the customer's credit report from credit institution 355.

In one embodiment, once payment center 305 receives all of thecustomer's entered expense, payroll, and credit information, and thecustomer's credit report, fund allocation engine 310 may generate afinancial report for the customer. The customer may then review thereport and determine if the report is accurate and/or complete. Thecustomer may then make changes to their financial information via, forexample, web interface 325. Based on any changes made, fund allocationengine 310 may then generate a revised financial report for thecustomer.

In a further embodiment, fund allocation engine 310 may determine howmuch available unallocated income the customer has to used to pay downdebt and increase the customer's credit score. Based on the unallocatedavailable funds, fund allocation engine 310 may determine the mostefficient way in which to allocate the funds in order to reduce thecustomer's debt, as well as increase the customer's credit score.

A further embodiment of the present invention provides a bill payingsystem. The bill paying system may include a mechanism adapted to becoupled to a designated deposit account (DDA) belonging to a debtor. TheDDA is periodically credited with a first credit on a first regularcredit schedule. The mechanism is further coupled to a custody accountadapted to receive funds from the DDA on a first funds transferschedule, and coupled to a first creditor account belonging to a firstcreditor of the debtor. The mechanism is adapted for determining anamount of funds to be transferred from the custody account to the firstcreditor account to provide an accelerated repayment of a first debtowed the first creditor by the debtor.

FIG. 4 provides a schematic illustration of one embodiment of a computersystem 400 that can perform the methods of the invention, as describedherein, and/or can function as, for example, payment center 305 in FIG.3. It should be noted that FIG. 4 is meant only to provide a generalizedillustration of various components, any or all of which may be utilizedas appropriate. FIG. 4, therefore, broadly illustrates how individualsystem elements may be implemented in a relatively separated orrelatively more integrated manner.

The computer system 400 is shown comprising hardware elements that canbe electrically coupled via a bus 405 (or may otherwise be incommunication, as appropriate). The hardware elements can include one ormore processors 410, including without limitation one or moregeneral-purpose processors and/or one or more special-purpose processors(such as digital signal processing chips, graphics acceleration chips,and/or the like); one or more input devices 415, which can includewithout limitation a mouse, a keyboard and/or the like; and one or moreoutput devices 420, which can include without limitation a displaydevice, a printer and/or the like.

The computer system 400 may further include (and/or be in communicationwith) one or more storage devices 425, which can comprise, withoutlimitation, local and/or network accessible storage and/or can include,without limitation, a disk drive, a drive array, an optical storagedevice, a solid-state storage device, such as a random access memory(“RAM”) and/or a read-only memory (“ROM”), which can be programmable,flash-updateable and/or the like. The computer system 400 might alsoinclude a communications subsystem 430, which can include withoutlimitation a modem, a network card (wireless or wired), an infra-redcommunication device, a wireless communication device and/or chipset(such as a Bluetooth™ device, an 802.11 device, a WiFi device, a WiMaxdevice, cellular communication facilities, etc.), and/or the like. Thecommunications subsystem 430 may permit data to be exchanged with anetwork (such as the network described below, to name one example),and/or any other devices described herein. In many embodiments, thecomputer system 400 will further comprise a working memory 435, whichcan include a RAM or ROM device, as described above.

The computer system 400 also can comprise software elements, shown asbeing currently located within the working memory 435, including anoperating system 440 and/or other code, such as one or more applicationprograms 445, which may comprise computer programs of the invention,and/or may be designed to implement methods of the invention and/orconfigure systems of the invention, as described herein. Merely by wayof example, one or more procedures described with respect to themethod(s) discussed above might be implemented as code and/orinstructions executable by a computer (and/or a processor within acomputer). A set of these instructions and/or code might be stored on acomputer readable storage medium, such as the storage device(s) 425described above. In some cases, the storage medium might be incorporatedwithin a computer system, such as the system 400. In other embodiments,the storage medium might be separate from a computer system (e.g., aremovable medium, such as a compact disc, etc.), and or provided in aninstallation package, such that the storage medium can be used toprogram a general purpose computer with the instructions/code storedthereon. These instructions might take the form of executable code,which is executable by the computer system 400 and/or might take theform of source and/or installable code, which, upon compilation and/orinstallation on the computer system 400 (e.g., using any of a variety ofgenerally available compilers, installation programs,compression/decompression utilities, etc.) then takes the form ofexecutable code.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that substantialvariations may be made in accordance with specific requirements. Forexample, customized hardware might also be used, and/or particularelements might be implemented in hardware, software (including portablesoftware, such as applets, etc.), or both. Further, connection to othercomputing devices such as network input/output devices may be employed.

In one aspect, the invention employs a computer system (such as thecomputer system 400) to perform methods of the invention. According to aset of embodiments, some or all of the procedures of such methods areperformed by the computer system 400 in response to processor 410executing one or more sequences of one or more instructions (which mightbe incorporated into the operating system 440 and/or other code, such asan application program 445) contained in the working memory 435. Suchinstructions may be read into the working memory 435 from anothermachine-readable medium, such as one or more of the storage device(s)425. Merely by way of example, execution of the sequences ofinstructions contained in the working memory 435 might cause theprocessor(s) 410 to perform one or more procedures of the methodsdescribed herein.

The terms “machine-readable medium” and “computer readable medium”, asused herein, refer to any medium that participates in providing datathat causes a machine to operate in a specific fashion. In an embodimentimplemented using the computer system 400, various machine-readablemedia might be involved in providing instructions/code to processor(s)410 for execution and/or might be used to store and/or carry suchinstructions/code (e.g., as signals). In many implementations, acomputer readable medium is a physical and/or tangible storage medium.Such a medium may take many forms, including but not limited to,non-volatile media, volatile media, and transmission media. Non-volatilemedia includes, for example, optical or magnetic disks, such as thestorage device(s) 425. Volatile media includes, without limitation,dynamic memory, such as the working memory 435. Transmission mediaincludes coaxial cables, copper wire and fiber optics, including thewires that comprise the bus 405, as well as the various components ofthe communication subsystem 430 (and/or the media by which thecommunications subsystem 430 provides communication with other devices).Hence, transmission media can also take the form of waves (includingwithout limitation radio, acoustic and/or light waves, such as thosegenerated during radio-wave and infra-red data communications).

Common forms of physical and/or tangible computer readable mediainclude, for example, a floppy disk, a flexible disk, hard disk,magnetic tape, or any other magnetic medium, a CD-ROM, any other opticalmedium, punchcards, papertape, any other physical medium with patternsof holes, a RAM, a PROM, an EPROM, a FLASH-EPROM, any other memory chipor cartridge, a carrier wave as described hereinafter, or any othermedium from which a computer can read instructions and/or code.

Various forms of machine-readable media may be involved in carrying oneor more sequences of one or more instructions to the processor(s) 410for execution. Merely by way of example, the instructions may initiallybe carried on a magnetic disk and/or optical disc of a remote computer.A remote computer might load the instructions into its dynamic memoryand send the instructions as signals over a transmission medium to bereceived and/or executed by the computer system 400. These signals,which might be in the form of electromagnetic signals, acoustic signals,optical signals and/or the like, are all examples of carrier waves onwhich instructions can be encoded, in accordance with variousembodiments of the invention.

The communications subsystem 430 (and/or components thereof) generallywill receive the signals, and the bus 405 then might carry the signals(and/or the data, instructions, etc., carried by the signals) to theworking memory 435, from which the processor(s) 405 retrieves andexecutes the instructions. The instructions received by the workingmemory 435 may optionally be stored on a storage device 425 eitherbefore or after execution by the processor(s) 410.

A set of embodiments comprises systems for credit optimization and debtreduction. Merely by way of example, FIG. 5 illustrates a schematicdiagram of a system 500 that can be used in accordance with one set ofembodiments. The system 500 can include one or more user computers 505.The user computers 505 can be general purpose personal computers(including, merely by way of example, personal computers and/or laptopcomputers running any appropriate flavor of Microsoft Corp.'s Windows™(e.g., Vista™) and/or Apple Corp.'s Macintosh™ operating systems) and/orworkstation computers running any of a variety of commercially-availableUNIX™ or UNIX-like operating systems. These user computers 505 can alsohave any of a variety of applications, including one or moreapplications configured to perform methods of the invention, as well asone or more office applications, database client and/or serverapplications, and web browser applications. Alternatively, the usercomputers 505 can be any other electronic device, such as a thin-clientcomputer, Internet-enabled mobile telephone, and/or personal digitalassistant (PDA), capable of communicating via a network (e.g., thenetwork 510 described below) and/or displaying and navigating web pagesor other types of electronic documents. Although the exemplary system500 is shown with three user computers 505, any number of user computerscan be supported.

Certain embodiments of the invention operate in a networked environment,which can include a network 510. The network 510 can be any type ofnetwork familiar to those skilled in the art that can support datacommunications using any of a variety of commercially-availableprotocols, including without limitation TCP/IP, SNA, IPX, AppleTalk, andthe like. Merely by way of example, the network 510 can be a local areanetwork (“LAN”), including without limitation an Ethernet network, aToken-Ring network and/or the like; a wide-area network (WAN); a virtualnetwork, including without limitation a virtual private network (“VPN”);the Internet; an intranet; an extranet; a public switched telephonenetwork (“PSTN”); an infra-red network; a wireless network, includingwithout limitation a network operating under any of the IEEE 802.11suite of protocols, the Bluetooth™ protocol known in the art, and/or anyother wireless protocol; and/or any combination of these and/or othernetworks.

Embodiments of the invention can include one or more server computers515. Each of the server computers 515 may be configured with anoperating system, including without limitation any of those discussedabove, as well as any commercially (or freely) available serveroperating systems. Each of the servers 515 may also be running one ormore applications, which can be configured to provide services to one ormore clients 505 and/or other servers 515.

Merely by way of example, one of the servers 515 may be a web server,which can be used, merely by way of example, to process requests for webpages or other electronic documents from user computers 505. The webserver can also run a variety of server applications, including HTTPservers, FTP servers, CGI servers, database servers, Java™ servers, andthe like. In some embodiments of the invention, the web server may beconfigured to serve web pages that can be operated within a web browseron one or more of the user computers 505 to perform methods of theinvention.

The server computers 515, in some embodiments, might include one or moreapplication servers, which can include one or more applicationsaccessible by a client running on one or more of the client computers505 and/or other servers 515. Merely by way of example, the server(s)515 can be one or more general purpose computers capable of executingprograms or scripts in response to the user computers 505 and/or otherservers 515, including without limitation web applications (which might,in some cases, be configured to perform methods of the invention).Merely by way of example, a web application can be implemented as one ormore scripts or programs written in any suitable programming language,such as Java™, C, C#™ or C++, and/or any scripting language, such asPerl, Python, or TCL, as well as combinations of anyprogramming/scripting languages. The application server(s) can alsoinclude database servers, including without limitation thosecommercially available from Oracle™, Microsoft™, Sybase™, IBM™ and thelike, which can process requests from clients (including, depending onthe configuration, database clients, API clients, web browsers, etc.)running on a user computer 505 and/or another server 515. In someembodiments, an application server can create web pages dynamically fordisplaying the information in accordance with embodiments of theinvention, such as web interface 325 in FIG. 3. Data provided by anapplication server may be formatted as web pages (comprising HTML,Javascript, etc., for example) and/or may be forwarded to a usercomputer 505 via a web server (as described above, for example).Similarly, a web server might receive web page requests and/or inputdata from a user computer 505 and/or forward the web page requestsand/or input data to an application server. In some cases, a web servermay be integrated with an application server.

In accordance with further embodiments, one or more servers 515 canfunction as a file server and/or can include one or more of the files(e.g., application code, data files, etc.) necessary to implementmethods of the invention incorporated by an application running on auser computer 505 and/or another server 515. Alternatively, as thoseskilled in the art will appreciate, a file server can include allnecessary files, allowing such an application to be invoked remotely bya user computer 505 and/or server 515. It should be noted that thefunctions described with respect to various servers herein (e.g.,application server, database server, web server, file server, etc.) canbe performed by a single server and/or a plurality of specializedservers, depending on implementation-specific needs and parameters.

In certain embodiments, the system can include one or more databases520. The location of the database(s) 520 is discretionary: merely by wayof example, a database 520 a might reside on a storage medium local to(and/or resident in) a server 515 a (and/or a user computer 505).Alternatively, a database 520 b can be remote from any or all of thecomputers 505, 515, so long as the database can be in communication(e.g., via the network 510) with one or more of these. In a particularset of embodiments, a database 520 can reside in a storage-area network(“SAN”) familiar to those skilled in the art. (Likewise, any necessaryfiles for performing the functions attributed to the computers 505, 515can be stored locally on the respective computer and/or remotely, asappropriate.) In one set of embodiments, the database 520 can be arelational database, such as an Oracle™ database, that is adapted tostore, update, and retrieve data in response to SQL-formatted commands.The database might be controlled and/or maintained by a database server,as described above, for example.

While the invention has been described with respect to exemplaryembodiments, one skilled in the art will recognize that numerousmodifications are possible. For example, the methods and processesdescribed herein may be implemented using hardware components, softwarecomponents, and/or any combination thereof. Further, while variousmethods and processes described herein may be described with respect toparticular structural and/or functional components for ease ofdescription, methods of the invention are not limited to any particularstructural and/or functional architecture but instead can be implementedon any suitable hardware, firmware and/or software configuration.Similarly, while various functionality is ascribed to certain systemcomponents, unless the context dictates otherwise, this functionalitycan be distributed among various other system components in accordancewith different embodiments of the invention.

Moreover, while the procedures comprised in the methods and processesdescribed herein are described in a particular order for ease ofdescription, unless the context dictates otherwise, various proceduresmay be reordered, added, and/or omitted in accordance with variousembodiments of the invention. Moreover, the procedures described withrespect to one method or process may be incorporated within otherdescribed methods or processes; likewise, system components describedaccording to a particular structural architecture and/or with respect toone system may be organized in alternative structural architecturesand/or incorporated within other described systems. Hence, while variousembodiments are described with—or without—certain features for ease ofdescription and to illustrate exemplary features, the various componentsand/or features described herein with respect to a particular embodimentcan be substituted, added and/or subtracted from among other describedembodiments, unless the context dictates otherwise. Consequently,although the invention has been described with respect to exemplaryembodiments, it will be appreciated that the invention is intended tocover all modifications and equivalents within the scope of thefollowing claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for reducing debt for a customer, themethod comprising: receiving, at a computer system: a credit report;bank account information; payroll information; and expense information;generating, with the computer system, a financial report based at leastin part on an aggregation of: the credit report; the bank accountinformation; the payroll information; and the expense information;determining, with the computer system, available unassigned income basedat least in part on the financial report; and allocating, with thecomputer system, the available unassigned income to pay the customer'sexpenses and one or more credit accounts such that the customer's debtis reduced, wherein the allocating of the available unassigned income isbased at least in part on: an interest rate of at least one creditaccount; an interest type of at least one credit account; and a due dateof at least one credit account.
 2. The method for reducing debt for acustomer as in claim 1, further comprising: sending the financial reportto the customer; receiving, in response to the customer receiving thefinancial report, additional financial information from the customer;and incorporating the additional financial information into thefinancial report to create a revised financial report.
 3. The method forreducing debt for a customer as in claim 2, wherein determiningavailable unassigned income is further based at least in part on therevised financial report.
 4. The method for reducing debt for a customeras in claim 1, further comprising: offering the customer, based at leastin part on the financial report, at least one of: a debt consolidationoffer; a lower interest rate credit card offer; a mortgage loan; or anautomobile loan.
 5. The method for reducing debt for a customer as inclaim 4, further comprising: presenting the customer with a mechanism toaccept the debt consolidation offer, the lower interest rate credit cardoffer, the mortgage loan, or the automobile loan; and allocating fundsaccording to the debt consolidation offer, the lower interest ratecredit card offer, the mortgage loan, or the automobile loan, inresponse to the customer accepting.
 6. The method for reducing debt fora customer as in claim 1, further comprising: receiving from thecustomer via a user interface: the bank account information; the payrollinformation; fixed expense information; and variable expenseinformation; and determining the expense information based at least inpart on the fixed expense information and the variable expenseinformation.
 7. The method for reducing debt for a customer as in claim1, wherein the bank account information includes one or more of thefollowing: an account type; an issuer; and a balance.
 8. The method forreducing debt for a customer as in claim 1, wherein the payrollinformation includes one or more of the following: an amount; and afrequency.
 9. The method for reducing debt for a customer as in claim 1,wherein: expense information comprises fixed expense information andvariable expense information, and the fixed expense information includesone or more of the following: automobile payments; insurance payments;student loan payments; mortgage payments; and other fixed or variableloans.
 10. The method for reducing debt for a customer as in claim 1,wherein: expense information comprises fixed expense information andvariable expense information, and the variable expense informationincludes one or more of the following: utility expenses; groceriesexpenses; entertainment expenses; and other variable payment lines ofcredit.
 11. The method for reducing debt for a customer as in claim 1,wherein the interest type includes one of the following: a simpleinterest rate; and a compound interest rate.
 12. A system for reducingdebt for at least one customer, the system comprising: a payment centerprocessor, wherein: the payment center processor is in communicationwith: at least one payee; at least one credit institution; at least onebank; the payment center processor is configured to: receive at leastone bill for the at least one customer from the at least one payee;receive at least one credit report from the credit institution, whereinthe credit report includes: an account identifier; a balance; aninterest rate; and an interest type; receive pay information from thebank; generate a financial report based at least in part on anaggregation of: the at least one bill; the at least one credit report;and the pay information; determining, with the computer system,available unassigned income based at least in part on the financialreport; and allocating, with the computer system, the availableunassigned income to pay the at least one bill.
 13. The system forreducing debt for at least one customer as in claim 12, wherein thepayment center processor is further configured to: determine, based atleast in part on the interest rate or the financial report, to offer thecustomer: a debt consolidation offer; a lower interest rate credit cardoffer; a mortgage loan; or an automobile loan.
 14. The system forreducing debt for at least one customer as in claim 12, wherein thepayment center processor is further configured to: cause the at leastone bill to be paid, based at least in part on the financial report. 15.The system for reducing debt for at least one customer as in claim 12,wherein the payment center processor is further configured to: send thefinancial report to the at least one customer; receiving, in response tothe at least one customer receiving the financial report, additionalfinancial information from the at least one customer; and incorporatingthe additional financial information into the financial report to createa revised financial report.
 16. The system for reducing debt for atleast one customer as in claim 15, wherein determining availableunassigned income is further based at least in part on the revisedfinancial report.
 17. A non-transitory machine readable medium having aset of instructions stored thereon for reducing debt of a customerwhich, when executed by a machine, cause the machine to: receive acredit report, bank account information, payroll information, andexpense information; generate a financial report based at least in parton an aggregation of the credit report, the bank account information,the payroll information, and the expense information; determineavailable unassigned income based at least in part on the financialreport; and allocate the available unassigned income to pay thecustomer's expenses and one or more credit accounts such that thecustomer's debt is reduced, wherein the allocating of the availableunassigned income is based at least in part on: an interest rate of atleast one credit account; an interest type of at least one creditaccount; and a due date of at least one credit account.
 18. Thenon-transitory machine readable medium as in claim 17, wherein the setof instructions, when executed by the machine, further cause the machineto: hold funds based on the determined the available unassigned income;and remit the held funds to pay the one or more of the credit accountsand the customer's expenses.
 19. The non-transitory machine readablemedium as in claim 17, wherein the set of instructions, when executed bythe machine, further cause the machine to: provide to the customer,based at least in part on the financial report: a debt consolidationoffer; a lower interest rate credit card offer; a mortgage loan; or anautomobile loan.
 20. The non-transitory machine readable medium as inclaim 19, wherein the sets of instructions when further executed by themachine, cause the machine to: presenting the customer with a mechanismto accept the debt consolidation offer, the lower interest rate creditcard offer, the mortgage loan, or the automobile loan; and allocatingfunds according to the debt consolidation offer, the lower interest ratecredit card offer, the mortgage loan, or the automobile loan, inresponse to the customer accepting.